Memory

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Memory

• Chapter 8

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Memory

• Memory the process by which we encode, store,
  and retrieve information
• Encoding initial recording of information
• Storage information saved for future use
• Retrieval recovery of stored information

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Three-System Memory Theory

• Proposes the existence of 3 different memory
  stores
• Sensory Memory the initial, momentary storage of
  information, lasting only an instant (sight,
  sound, etc)
• Short Term Memory Memory that holds information
  for 15 to 25 seconds
• Long Term Memory Memory that stores information
  on a relatively permanent basis, although it may
  be difficult to retrieve

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Sensory Memory

• A momentary flash of lighting, the snapping of a
  twigthey all give us information which is
  forgotten right away
• Iconic memory memory from the visual system
• Echoic memory stores auditory information
• Sensory memory is stored for a VERY short time.
  If it does not pass to short term memory it is
  lost forever

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Sperling

• F TY CKDNLYWBM

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Sperling

• When exposed to just the letters for 1/20th of a
  second, people could only remember 4 or 5 letters
  accurately
• He did the experiment again, but sounded a low,
  high, or medium tone after exposing the people to
  the letters
• If the tone was high, they were told to look at
  the first line, if the tone was medium they
  looked at the middle, and if the tone was low
  they were told to look at the last line
• People were able to accurately write the letters.
  Therefore, they had been storing them all along.
  He determined that recalling the letters was
  possible as long as they were shown the letters
  for over one second.

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Short Term Memory

• To retain information it must be stored in short
  tem memory
• Short term memory is the first form of memory in
  which information has meaning. However, it is
  only stored for a short period of time.
• It is not clear how things are transformed into
  short term memory

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Short Term Memory

• Most that you can store is seven items
• Chunks a meaningful grouping of stimuli that can
  be stored as a unit in short term memory

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Short Term Memory

• P B S F O X C N N A B C C B S M V N B C

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Short Term Memory

• PBS FOX CNN ABC CBS MTV NBC

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Rehearsal

• The repetition of information that has entered
  short term memory
• As long as information is repeated you can store
  it in your short term memory
• Type of rehearsal influences whether information
  is stored in long term or short term
• Elaborative rehearsal
• Mnemonic device

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Working Memory

• A set of temporary memory stores that actively
  manipulate and rehearse information
• Contains a central executive processing that is
  involved in reasoning and decision making.
• The central executive coordinates the following
• The visual store, verbal store, and episodic
  buffer

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Working Memory

• Permits us to keep information in an active state
  briefly so that we can do something with the
  information.
• Example when we are totaling a bill

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Long Term Memory

• Material that enters from short term to long term
  memory enters a storage house of almost unlimited
  capacity.
• What does this mean? We have an immense storage
  capacity
• Certain kinds of brain damage?no long term memory

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Long Term Memory Modules

• Declarative Memory Memory for factual
  information names, faces, dates, and the like.
• Procedural Memory Memory for skills and habits,
  such as riding a bike or hitting a baseball,
  sometimes referred to as nondeclarative memory.
• Semantic Memory Memory for general knowledge and
  facts about the world, as well as memory for the
  rules of logic that are used to deduce other
  facts
• Episodic Memory Memory for events that occur in
  a particular time, place, or context

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Semantic Networks

• Semantic Networks mental representations of
  clusters of interconnected information
• Example think of everything you can think of
  that is redor think of fruitsIf you think of an
  apple on the first task, you are more likely to
  think of an apple on the second task.

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Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon

• The inability to recall information that one
  realizes one knows-a result of the difficulty of
  retrieving information from long-term memory

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Retrieval Cues

• Who can name the seven dwarfs from Snow White?
• This is a difficult task because it involves
  recall
• Recall Memory task in which specific information
  must be retrieved
• Retrieval cue a stimulus that allows us to
  recall more easily information that is in long
  term memory

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Retrieval Cues

• Examples
• Words
• Emotions
• Sounds

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Retrieval Cues

• When the retrieval cue is present the memory will
  come to mind
• For example the smell of roasting turkey may
  evoke memories of thanksgiving

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Levels of Processing

• Levels of Processing the theory of memory that
  emphasizes the degree in which new material is
  mentally analyzed
• The more we process information the more likely
  we are to remember it

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Explicit Memory

• Intentional or conscious recollection of
  information
• Example when we try to remember a date

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Implicit Memory

• Memories of which most people are not consciously
  aware, but which can affect subsequent
  performance and behavior
• Example skills that operate unconsciously such
  as jumping out of the way of a car

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Priming

• A phenomenon in which exposure to a word or
  concept later makes it easier to recall related
  information, even when there is no conscious
  memory of the word or concept
• You forget something, but then you see something
  that triggers it

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Flash Bulb Memories

• Memories centered on a specific, important, or
  surprising event that are so vivid it is as if
  they represented a snapshot of the event
• Example a car accident (something specific you
  remember vividly), the world trade center attack

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Constructive Processes In Memory Rebuilding the
Past

• Constructive Processes processes in which
  memories are influenced by the meaning we give to
  events
• Schemas organized bodies of information stored
  in memory that bias the way new information is
  interpreted, stored, and recalled

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Memory in the Court Room

• Eye witnesses are prone to memory related errors
• When children are witnesses there may be
  increased errors
• Childrens memory may be highly susceptible to
  error when emotional content or stress is involved

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Repressed and False Memories

• Controversy as to whether there is such a thing
  as a repressed memory
• Repressed Memory recollections of events that
  are initially so shocking that the mind responds
  by pushing them into the unconscious
• Some supporters suggest that such memories may
  remain hidden possibly throughout a persons life
  time

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False Memory

• Develop when people are unable to recall the
  source of a memory of a particular event about
  which they have only vague recollection
• When the source of memory becomes unclear, people
  may become confused about whether they actually
  experienced the event or whether it was imagined.
  Ultimately, people come to believe that the
  event occurred.
• Such memories can be so vivid that they produce
  emotional reaction even though they are false

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Autobiographical Memory

• Our recollections of circumstances and episodes
  from our own life
• Encompass episodic memories about ourselves
• Example we tend to forget information about our
  past that is incompatible with the way in which
  we currently see ourselves (college students
  forget their bad grades but remember their good
  ones)

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Forgetting

• Why do we forget?
• We did not pay attention to the material in the
  first place (encoding failure)
• Decay the loss of information in memory due to
  it not being used
• Interference the phenomenon by which information
  in memory disrupts the recall of other
  information
• Cue dependent forgetting forgetting that occurs
  when there are insufficient retrieval cues to
  rekindle information that is in memory

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Memory Dysfunctions

• Alzheimers Disease an illness characterized by
  severe memory problems